Shell objects from Tell Rad Shaqrah (Syria)
Shell objects from Tell Rad Shaqrah (Syria)

Summary/Abstract: Polish excavations at Tell Rad Shaqrah in northeastern Syria revealed remains of a settlement dated primarily to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The paper presents a collection of beads and pendants made of shell and nacre from Rad Shaqrah, mostly from funerary contexts. These beads and pendants find parallels among finds from sites in northern Syria and Mesopotamia (Tell al-Raqa’i, Tell Beydar, Tell Brak, Tell Bi’a, Tawi, Qara Quzaq, Mari etc.) and also from southern Mesopotamia (Ur, Uruk, Abu Salabikh). Among the shell artifacts there are also items made of exotic shells, which raises the question of trade and exchange of shells in northern Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC.

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